Hawkesbury Council voted unanimously last week to support the new route through Windsor CBD proposed by the bus drivers' union, to be implemented on the weekend of November 28-29.

The story began last month when Westbus drivers stopped driving down the narrow stretch of George Street between Catherine and Fitzgerald streets due to safety concerns, after car mirrors had been knocked off and car doors hit by buses squeezing through.

While no-one denied the legitimacy of the problem, Westbus drivers' action to stop services down that part of George Street caused an uproar from shopkeepers and passengers alike.

The Transport Workers' Union proposal was for buses to run from Windsor Station up George Street, with a new stop at the corner of New Street. The bus would then turn right into Suffolk Street, where there would be another new stop.

It would then turn left onto Macquarie Street and left into Fitz- gerald. From there it would turn right into Terrace, right into Kable and then onto Macquarie again.

To implement the change, the council also voted to make Suffolk Street one-way, running from George to Macquarie streets and make four new bus stops: one on George Street at the corner of New Street, one on Suffolk Street, another outside Windsor Town Centre on Kable Street, and another on Fitzgerald Street, around the corner from the previous stop on George Street outside Windsor Home Store.

The council had originally been set to vote on an earlier proposal of removing parking down the Country Target side of George Street, from Fitzgerald to Catherine streets.

This had met with outrage from many shopkeepers on that stretch, who said they relied on the turnover of parking spots there for their clients to access them.

Speaking on behalf of Hawkes- bury Chamber of Commerce at the council meeting, Hawkesbury Newspapers general manager Damien Tomlinson said it was "the closest to a win-win situation" you could possibly get.